Well, I'm not sure it's that black and white. I think that this statement is true when only a little investment has been made in the journey to the checkout, but as the investment increases the cost of requiring your users to register diminishes.
This is probably best demonstrated with an example. Say you are buying an airline ticket. You've done the research, shopped around, and finally found the best deal. It's taken you 30 minutes to find to the ideal flight for you. After all that effort, being required to login isn't going to stop you from buying it. The reason I know this, is because I've run a month long A/B test on one of Europe's largest travel sites. I fully expected registration to impact conversion, and I was completely blown away to discover it made not one iota of difference.
Then again, you didn't measure to what extent the "registration" group now loathe them so much that they'll jump to a competitor as soon as they match the price...
If you are a British retailer demanding registration of a UK address for the purchaser, even though the goods will be sent as a gift to a UK address, you need to cease this practice immediately.
You'd think the British economy would say "yes" to foreign money but, well, nope.
The ones that spring to my mind as having lost my business is anywhere that requires you to create an account / login just to see what the shipping charges will be. I don't think I've ever done anything except leave when I've seen that.
Not that I disagree, but having some data to back up his claims would be really nice.
Possibly even a $300 Million fortune
http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_but ton
Lloyd Budd - 5th November 2009 22:43 - #
Well, I'm not sure it's that black and white. I think that this statement is true when only a little investment has been made in the journey to the checkout, but as the investment increases the cost of requiring your users to register diminishes.
This is probably best demonstrated with an example. Say you are buying an airline ticket. You've done the research, shopped around, and finally found the best deal. It's taken you 30 minutes to find to the ideal flight for you. After all that effort, being required to login isn't going to stop you from buying it. The reason I know this, is because I've run a month long A/B test on one of Europe's largest travel sites. I fully expected registration to impact conversion, and I was completely blown away to discover it made not one iota of difference.
Simon - 6th November 2009 10:29 - #
Then again, you didn't measure to what extent the "registration" group now loathe them so much that they'll jump to a competitor as soon as they match the price...
If you are a British retailer demanding registration of a UK address for the purchaser, even though the goods will be sent as a gift to a UK address, you need to cease this practice immediately.
You'd think the British economy would say "yes" to foreign money but, well, nope.
Paul Boddie - 6th November 2009 23:33 - #
The ones that spring to my mind as having lost my business is anywhere that requires you to create an account / login just to see what the shipping charges will be. I don't think I've ever done anything except leave when I've seen that.
Anonymous - 7th November 2009 18:54 - #